1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a rocking horse toy, and more particularly to a recreation toy which is capable of being actuated by the rider to move along a floor in a forward direction.
2. The Background Art
Rocking horses of many varieties are known in the prior art. Perhaps the best known type of rocking horse is a toy horse having legs mounted on a pair of parallel arcuate rails. A child sits upon the horse and rocks back and forth in a rhythmic pattern, much like a person rocking in a rocking chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,857 (issued on Aug. 1, 1972 to Bonvicini et al.) teaches a toy rocking horse with the front legs mounted upon a first rocker member and the rear legs mounted upon a second rocker member. The use of two separate rocker members enables two separate rocking motions for purposes of exercise and coordination training.
Riding horse toys have been developed which are capable of actual travel. It was discovered to place wheels on the feet of a toy horse in combination with pedal mechanisms, spring-loaded actuating devices and other apparatus to impart motion to the wheels for forward movement. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,788,217 (issued on Apr. 9, 1957 to Patterson), 2,462,814 (issued on Feb. 22, 1949 to Rodriquez), 2,421,091 (issued on May 27, 1947 to Sylvester), 1,708,090 (issued on Apr. 9, 1929), and 1,269,490 (issued on Jun. 1, 1918) disclose different wheeled toy horses which are capable of progressing from a first location to a second location. These toy horses do not rock and require complex mechanical apparatus to achieve forward progress, requiring additional expense to manufacture and increasing the possibility of mechanical failure.
A galloping horse toy is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,671 (issued on Jun. 12, 1973 to Czepiga). A spring-loaded galloping device is used to impart galloping motions to the legs of the horse to cause the horse to move in gallop-like steps. However, the internal mechanisms of this toy are even more complex than the wheeled horse toys discussed above.
Of current interest is a rider-actuated rocking horse toy which is simple in design and capable of selective forward progress by the rider.